This drastic measure will lead to curtailing the freedom of the churches, it said.

Hyderabad:

The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches (APFC) has opposed the state government’s move to constitute a group of ministers to enact legislation on Church properties and educational institutes.

In a letter to Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Aug 24, it asked the government to give due weight to the views of the APFC headed by archbishops and bishops as it legitimately represents the churches and Christian Community of the state.

Individual Christians, even if they happen to be MLAs or holding any other high position, cannot claim to represent the Christian community, it said.

Admitting there are some cases of illegal disposal and occupation of Church properties, the churches feel that the government must take effective measures to restore them back to the churches, the letter said.

With regard to the irregular sales of the Church properties noticed in some places by some individual church members, the bishops and heads of churches feel that the existing courts could be approached by the aggrieved members of the churches for redressal.

But, in the pretext of these isolated irregularities committed by a few individuals, it is not justified on the part of the government to generalize and impose on the entire group of churches a public law bringing them all under a single body.

This drastic measure will lead to curtailing the freedom of the churches and lead to the negation of their fundamental rights to own and manage their private properties, the letter said.

The bishops/heads of the churches oppose imposing on them something that they never asked for, rather resisted vehemently when such attempts were made in the past by some state governments.

APFC is a state level apex body and an umbrella organization of the mainline churches of various Christian denominations represented by the bishops or heads of churches in Andhra Pradesh.